Petunia Care

A Handy Guide to Petunia Care

If you have a nice basket of petunias and need to learn petunia care, then this article is for you. Petunias are simple yet beautiful flowers that make a great addition to any garden, balcony, porch, or yard. They are also quite simple to grow and care for. Still, if you buy plants and go through the trouble to grow them, you want them to stay healthy – even if they are fairly simple and straightforward. This is why petunia care is important for you and your petunias.

The petunia is a flowering plant with the botanical name of Solanaceae petunia that originated in South America. It is a relatively small plant with trumpet-shaped leaves that come in a variety of colors; white, yellow, pink, red, blue, or purple. The plant is also divided into four groups based on size of the plant and the flowers: grandiflora (the largest type of petunia); spreading (covers about three to four feet of area); multiflora (multi-colored petals); and milliflora (smallest leaves). The variety of colors and sizes is one of the main reasons why so many gardeners and homeowners love to use this flower in their gardens or yards.

Petunia care is centered around the notion that petunias are pretty easy to care for. Certain types of petunias – mostly the milliflora – can tolerate relatively harsh conditions, and all can survive in hot climates. The perfect growing environment for a petunia is a warm climate with plenty of sun during the day, low humidity, and moist soil. It can be grown, however, in environments other than the one described above. That is just the most ideal setting for planting and taking care of petunias. Petunias like a lot of sun and cannot stand excessive humidity, nor can they stand dry soil.

To begin growing your petunias, you need to obtain some young plants. You can grow petunias from seeds if you wish, but it is easier and less frustrating to plant a petunia plant that has already sprouted. If you decide to use seeds, try and get the soilless potting mix from your local garden or lawn store; it tends to make things easy. In about two weeks, your seedlings will sprout (faster if the plant gets 12 hours of sun a day). Fertilizer may help to grow your seedlings or young plants and add rich nutrients to your plant.

Once grown, you will need to water your petunia collection approximately every two to five days. This, of course, will depend on the local climate; if your region is hot and dry, you will need to water them more often. If you live in a cool and damp climate, then you can go longer without watering. Again, fertilizer during the growing season is recommended. Your petunias will wilt if they need more water, so to avoid this, make sure you keep the soil moist (but not flooded).

Another important step in petunia care is to “deadhead” your petunias. Your flowers will grow flowers that will eventually die. When this happens, you need to remove them so your other flowers will have room to grow and flourish. You should do this on a regular basis, whenever you see petals and flowers die. You do not need any special tools to do this, but if you want you can use pruning shears if it makes it easier for you.

As you can see, petunia care is easy and simple, because petunias are easy flowers to grow. Care for this beautiful flower is straightforward and does not involve a lot of work. Just water every two to five days, use fertilizer, and make sure to deadhead your flowers regularly.